Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Saturday

The latest:

• PM says Canada to buy 40 million Moderna COVID-19 doses in next two years.

• COVID-19 vaccine mandates are coming — whether Canadians want them or not.

• Canadians appear to be heading into a pandemic election — and many are wondering why.

• Twitter to mandate vaccinations for in-office Canadian workers. Will other companies follow?

• Federal government to require vaccinations for all federal public servants, air and train passengers.

The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible delta variant.

The delta variant, which is rapidly spreading among mostly the unvaccinated portion of the U.S. population, has caused hospitalizations to spike in recent weeks, driving up the number of pediatric hospitalizations to 1,902 on Saturday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Children currently make up about 2.4 per cent of the nation's COVID-19 hospitalizations. Kids under 12 are not eligible to receive the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to infection from the new, highly transmissible variant.

The numbers of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 also hit record highs this week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WATCH | Keeping unvaccinated children safe in school: 

COVID-19: Keeping unvaccinated kids safe in school

3 years ago

Duration 5:55

Pediatric infectious diseases physician Dr. Jacqueline Wong answers viewer questions about children and COVID-19, including keeping unvaccinated children safe in school and how the delta variant affects them.

The spike in new cases has ramped up tension between conservative state leaders and local districts over whether children should be required to wear masks as they head back to school this month.

School districts in Florida, Texas and Arizona have mandated that masks be worn in schools, defying orders from their Republican state governors that ban districts from imposing such rules.

The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to withhold funding from districts that impose mask requirements, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appealing to the state Supreme Court to overturn Dallas County's mask mandate, the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday.

A fifth of the country's COVID-19 hospitalizations are in Florida, where the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients hit a record 16,100 on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally.

More than 90 per cent of the state's intensive care beds are filled, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

What's happening in Canada

• Can B.C. get out of the 4th wave with targeted instead of broad-based measures?

• Saskatchewan reports 122 new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations rise to 77.

• Ontario registers 578 news COVID-19 infections and two more deaths.

• Large crowd marches in Montreal to protest against Quebec's vaccine passport.

• Protesters gather in Halifax to oppose vaccine passports in Nova Scotia.

What's happening around the world

As of Saturday, more than 206.5 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the world, according to the coronavirus tracker maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.35 million.

In Europe, thousands of people — from families to far-right sympathizers — marched in cities across France for a fifth straight Saturday to denounce a COVID-19 health pass needed to enter restaurants and long-distance trains.

In Asia, Iranian state media said authorities will impose a six-day "general lockdown" in cities across the country.

In Africa, Morocco received a shipment of 600,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as it expands its inoculation campaign to younger people following a surge in cases.

In the Americas, authorities in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, began a 34-hour "vaccination festival" targeting 18- to 21-year-olds, as part of efforts to have all adults vaccinated with a first dose by Sunday night.